


The Girl Who Adores ▹ Doctor Who [Prequel]

by animechey



Series: The Lady of Time Saga [3]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2020-03-06 15:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18854152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animechey/pseuds/animechey
Summary: adore/əˈdɔː/verb1. love and respect (someone) deeply.2. worship; venerate.





	1. 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

Her story spans centuries.

His starts in the 51st century.

They run away together.

There's always a danger around the corner.

© Chey Eveleigh | 2020

Started: N/A  
Finished: N/A


	2. 𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤

**Hey, all.**

**This is basically the same thing I posted in the last two books, but with a bit of editing done to it. Enjoy!** **  
**

**So, after I began writing chapter 37 of the first book, I thought I better give all my readers some information about this story so I don't have people making a big fuss about some of the things I've written, or am going to write, for this story.**

_**1) Violet:** _

**She _is_  half ** **Gallifreyan, and a** **Time Lord (Time Lady, really), like I say within the first three or four chapters, but she's not entirely the same as the The Doctor, or River. She's more similar to Jenny (the Doctor's daughter) in how she Regenerates, however Violet can have one part of her body replaced when she Regenerates, for example, her eyes in either chapter 11 or 12 of this book, and other parts in the upcoming sequel and prequel.**

**Also, this is something I'm actually really hesitant to tell you all, but I think it'd help you understand why I've written my OC like I have. Violet's character, personality and decisions are actually based off me and my experiences, as well as some of my friends. So, uh, take from that what you will, and try to keep the criticism to a minimum please.**

_**2) Relationships:** _

**This is what I'm probably the most worried about concerning this story. If you've taken notice of the relationships listed in the story information box (or whatever it's called), then you'll know that Violet has multiple relationships with multiple people, and they're all basically at the same time due to this being a story about time travel.**

**Let's all just forget about what is perceived as 'right' and 'wrong' or 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' whilst reading this story, because there's a lot of different relationships for Violet, Jack - and even the Doctor. It's a great big mess that might be kinda difficult to understand and take in, but the relationship aspect of this story is meant to be very fucking complex.**

**_3) Warnings:_ **

**This third book is much more graphic and triggering than either of the other two books, so it's best you be warned before you read it. The first and third chapters (so far) are probably the most triggering chapter I've written for this series, and that's because of where this book takes place in the timeline of the series - just as Violet meets Jack, and before she gets the medicine to subdue her tendencies to crash and burn; to lash out and self-destruct.**

**I will put a trigger warning notice at the beginning of any chapters that concern possibly sensitive issues, but please don't go blaming me if you accidentally overlook it and come across the triggering scene without being somewhat prepared. Just so you know - the worst this story is going to contain is self-harm, suicidal thoughts and tendencies, and attempted suicide.**

**If anyone else has any more concerns or questions, just let me know and I'll explain them on here.**

**\- Chey xo -**


	3. 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕥

**Violet Jones | Lady Adrenilda | Angourie Rice**

**Captain Jack Harkness | John Barrowman**

**Ianto Jones |** **Gareth David-Lloyd**

**Captain John Hart | James Marsters**

**River Song | Melody Pond |** **Alex Kingston**

_**Introducing:** _

**Christopher Eccelston | Ninth Doctor**


	4. 𝟘𝟘𝟘 ▹ 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕤

**Rating:**  Teen Audiences and Up

 **Warnings:**  Major Character Death

 **Categories:**  F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

 **Fandoms:**  Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood

 **Relationships:**  Jack Harkness/Original Female Character, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Ianto Jones/Original Female Character, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones/Original Female Character

 **Characters:**  Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Face of Boe

 **Language:** English

 **Series:**  Part 3 of the The Lady of Time Saga series

 **Stats:**    
Published: 2020-01-06

**Cover:**

**Description:**

Her story spans centuries.

His starts in the 51st century.

They run away together.

There's always a danger around the corner.

© Chey Eveleigh | 2020

**Preview:**

Violet looks over the expanse with wonder in her sapphire blue eyes - the colour that matches the grass quite easily. The sky is a deep purple, and the sun is a glittering silver; the trees a shimmering golden colour, and the clouds a seemingly rose in colour. The breeze is cool, but not cold, and smells of something sweet and familiar that she cannot put her finger on, and the feeling of the grass against her bare feet and legs is like satin; smooth and delicate.

Instinctively reaching out, she winds her fingers with Jack's, grounding herself. "This cannot be real. There's no such thing as a paradise, and yet I'm standing in one."

The time traveller squeezes her hand reassuringly, but also maybe with a hint of something else. "It's real alright, Violet, and this proves there is such thing as a paradise."

With a moment of deliberation, Jack pulls Violet towards him, twirling her around as he steps to the side, her smaller body bumping into his a moment later. One of her hands is clutched in his and the other is resting on his upper arm as she stares up into his baby blue eyes with shock and delight, surprise echoing them. She's never danced before, but, with him, it feels as though it flows naturally through her and her body moves on instinct.

Allowing herself to be swept away, Violet lowers her barriers and moves with Jack. Twisting and turning, quick-step and slow, sleek movements consume her thoughts until she's but an extension of the man leading her, and he's an extension of her. The satin grass brushes against her legs, and the skirt she reluctantly put on - at Jack's request - flies up as she spins, billowing out around her slightly.

A smile grows on her face at the one of Jack's, and she soon finds herself laughing along with him. Their feet knock together moments later, too caught up in their laughter, and send themselves sprawling into the sapphire grass, Jack cushioning Violet's fall. As in, she ends up on top of him, wide eyes staring into his and hands linked with his beside his head, and pale lips not too far from his, breaths shaking and mingling in the small space between them.


	5. 𝟘𝟘𝟙 ▹ 𝔸𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕝

**TRIGGER WARNING**

**THE DEAD HEAT OF**  the relentless Australian summer has always been a disgustingly baring time for fifteen-year-old Violet Jones, who's struggling to stay cool in the old farmhouse she currently resides in with her dysfunctional family. The sweaty sheen covering her pale, scar-decorated skin stings and burns open and still bleeding wounds in the encapsulating darkness of her bedroom, making her roiling anxiety and biting anger-induced trembling begin to slowly subside. She wants to cry and beg and scream for it to be all over and done with, but her lips remain still and her throat tightens in refusal to her heart's desire, instead choosing the more rational part of her mind that warns against such action.

A sudden crash jolts her from her meticulous scarring of her flesh, leading to a deeper gash being left on her body, her sapphire eyes alight with curiosity. Not caring for her state, she shoves her feet into the shoes by her bed and clambers out the window, the torchlight from her phone illuminating the ground before her as she hurries towards where she can hear cursing. Opening the side gate, she makes her way over to the giant shed and rolls the door across, revealing the startling sight of a man struggling to find his footing amidst the tools and miscellaneous objects within the tin building. Rising her light, her breath catches in her throat when baby blue eyes meet hers, instantly noticing the blood beginning to run down from his hairline.

"Are you alright...?" she asks softly, not sure whether or not he's going to hurt her. Slowly wrapping her left hand around the handle of the block splitter just outside the shed, she keeps her eyes trained on the man as he makes his way towards her, backing away as he stumbles out into the night, and keeping the splitter behind her. "How did you even get in there...?"

The man turns to face her with a wry smile, scratching the back of his head. "Got the timing a bit wrong. Stupid Manipulator." He hits the device on his wrist, irritation flashing across his face before he winces, hand going up to lightly touch the wound on his head. "Shit! That's gonna leave a mark."

"Timing...? What are you talking about?"

"Ah! This is a Vortex Manipulator-" he presents the device on his wrist and Violet blinks- "and it lets me time travel - and travel through space."

She frowns, her mind flashing with memories of seeing a blue police box that could travel through time and space on the news - and on select alien theory websites. "So you're an alien?"

"In a sense. From the future - the 51st Century, to be exact - so you could call me an alien, if that makes it easier for you."

"Yeah..." Violet motions towards her current abode. "You're hurt. Come inside and I'll take care of it for you."

She stays long enough to see a smile appear on the man's face before turning and heading back towards the farmhouse, climbing in through her window with the help of a milk crate. Turning her lamp on, she opens the draw she knows to have antiseptic, band-aids and bandages in. Pulling them out, she turns to see the man sliding in through the open window, light eyes darting around the room as if something is going to jump out and attack him before he gingerly sits on the edge of her bed - with her direct permission, of course. Violet can't help but smile slightly at how hesitant a fully-grown man is around a fifteen-year-old girl, acting as though she's going to pull out a gun and shoot him - or a knife and stab him.

Sitting on her bed, she begins to clear away the drying blood on the man's face, keenly aware of the way his light eyes are searching her face for something, tension rising in their depths when he finds something he doesn't like. "Find something dark in me...?"

The man meets her curious gaze, surprised to find no fear of him in their depths. "Something like that. You have a strange air about you."

"That's not the first time someone's said that about me." She cleans the wound itself, flinching back when her patient recoils. "Jesus, calm down. You're acting like a baby about such a tiny scratch." Placing a relatively large band-aid on the gash, she sits properly on her bed and hums. "There. You're good as new." Searching  _his_  curious gaze, she makes an amused sound. "What's your name, alien boy?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," the man declares with a wink. "What about you?"

"Violet Jones, and I said  _real name_ , mister." Violet smiles at the blatant shock on his face as she leans back to look up at the clear-as-daylight con artist, blinking away the sudden wave of dizziness that hits her. "Come on, spit it out. Fair's fair, right?"

"It's Javic Piotr Thane, but how'd you...?"

Jack doesn't get to finish his question before Violet's body turns weak and she falls forward against him, her left arm turning numb and a tingling sensation growing in her fingers. She hears him curse lowly as he helps her upright, his eyes flying over her body in search of any kind of life-threatening wound, his curses growing slightly in volume as he finds the steadily bleeding gash on her inner left wrist. The world around her becomes hazy and disorientating, but she's fully aware of the 51st Century man panicking beside her as he tries his best to stop her bleeding out.

She distantly hears him pleading for her to stay with him; to not close her eyes, or fall asleep. She wants to tell him to just let her go, but her lips refuse to move and her tongue feels like lead in her mouth. It's not the first time this has happened, but it's the first time someone has been with her - or even  _known_ about it in the first place. Even knowing nothing about Jack, something in the depths of Violet's mind is fighting for her to stay alive - for him of all people; a complete and utter stranger who basically crash landed in her backyard. Deciding that, for once, the voice and beating drums in her mind that urge her to stay alive are right, she forces her eyes open and turns her face towards where she senses her companion.

The early morning sunlight is seeping in through her window and illuminating the older male, making Violet smile softly at how hypnotising he looks despite the haggard and tired look on his face. "I thought you would have left by now..."

Those baby blue eyes stare down at her with wonder and the beginnings of lividity, making her stomach churn with pure fear. "What the hell were you thinking?! What happened to me was superficial compared to this! You should've taken care of this first."

"And you should have let me die, but here we are." Forcing herself upright, she peers down at the currently pristine bandage on her left arm before looking at the blood beginning to stain her covers. "I wouldn't have had to worry about cleaning this mess up..."

Climbing to her feet, Violet places her hand against the wall as her head begins to spin, but forces herself to shake it off before stripping the doona cover off her bed, startling Jack as she leaves the room to throw the bedding into the washing machine. While she's gone, the 51st Century man catalogues every available inch of the teenager's room, finding barely anything that can tell him what he wants to know about her - aside from one type of music she adores, and a few YouTubers she watches. He scrolls through the notifications on her Android phone, brow furrowing when he finds not so nice messages from someone he's almost certain to be her current boyfriend.

Standing in the doorway, she watches as his frown deepens, an echoing one appearing on her face once she realises that he's reading her notifications. "Prying into my mind, are you, Javic?"

Jack looks over at her, clearly startled at the use of his birth name. "Your boyfriend isn't the nicest person, is he?"

That question makes Violet freeze, her blood turning cold. "That's  _none_  of your fucking business!"

He faces her fully, arms crossed over his chest. "Does he hurt you, Violet?"

It's not her expression that gives him an answer, but the way her arms move to hug her middle; protecting herself out of pure instinct. Jack sighs and walks around the bed, pausing a few metres away from Violet and holding his arms out, beckoning for her to let it all out. Her steps are halting and hesitant until his arms are wrapped around her and holding her as she cries, her hands tightly holding onto his shirt as she trembles against him. No one has ever been here for her like this, and, now that someone is, it feels utterly surreal and dream-like - but, with how solid his body is against hers, she knows that it's no dream; that someone actually gives a fuck about her - despite how little he knows about her.

 


	6. 𝟘𝟘𝟚 ▹ 𝔸 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪 𝔸𝕨𝕒𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘

**IT TAKES HER BY** surprise, being asked to accompany Jack on a trip through time - and probably space - but she's not one to say "no" to such a delightful opportunity. Call her stupid or completely death-wishing, but, despite only having known him for less than 24 hours, she trusts him more than her own family - which isn't overly hard considering the hell they've put her through. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she really doesn't want to miss, and both her reaction and answer were worth seeing a heart melting grin appear on the time traveler's face.

Changing into a pair of jeans, a grey t-shirt and her joggers, she shoves necessities into a backpack along with her phone charger, another pair of jeans, several band-print shirts, and her black hoodie-jacket before following the older man outside. With one last look back at the hellhole she's called home for three years, she takes hold of Jack as he types coordinates into his Vortex Manipulator, closing her eyes as the heartbreaking sound of her dog's yipping and barking fills the air, tightening her hold on Jack. He smiles down at her and hits a final button on the Manipulator, sending them flying through what appears to be the eye of a storm; a tunnel of ever-changing cloud.

When they land, Violet's sapphire eyes are wide in disbelief as they fly around, taking in everything. If her hand wasn't linked with Jack's, she may well say what she's seeing is naught but a fantastical dream. There are inhuman beings surrounding her, chattering in languages she has no way of understanding and buying what appears to be food, but she's not entirely sure. A delighted laugh escapes her and she turns to smile at Jack, happy for the first time in such a long time, her stomach lightening as he returns the smile and begins to lead her through the crowd of extraterrestrial creatures.

They spend the day exploring - and Violet ends up being up to quickly learn multiple alien languages with ease, the words rolling off her tongue as though she's been speaking them her entire life and her mind instantly translating the words being spoken to her no matter the language. To say she's surprised is an understatement, but both she and Jack are delighted - especially since it ends up earning them a room at one of the motels for the next few nights if they decide to stay, which they're more than happy to do. By the time night falls, the two Humans are in their room, sharing a surprisingly delicious meal - something that Violet's not entirely sure what it roughly translates to in English, but good nonetheless. All she knows is that it's some kind of meat that looks similar to fish, and there are some sort of vegetables in the stew broth along with it.

Curled up against a pillow in the king-sized bed they've been given, Violet hums a song softly. "Thanks for all of this, Javic."

Jack rolls onto his side and his lips quirk into a smile. "Any time. This isn't over yet though, so don't go thanking me just yet. It's going to get better."

"I'll hold you to that." She's quiet for a moment before deciding to speak again. "Hey, can I ask you something and you answer it honestly?"

"Depends. What'd you want to know?"

"I want to know what happens to the Human race."

He laughs. "We spread like wildfire across the stars, mingling with every other species. Some of us become enslaved, but most of us are free to live our lives. But that's not it, is it? What do you really want to know, Violet?"

Violet hesitates before meeting his baby blue eyes, not sure whether this will cause the man to clam up and send her packing back home or not. "I want to know about you. You've dragged me across the universe, and we barely know each other."

Jack simply looks at her and says nothing, a flurry of emotions crossing his face.

"Tell me about you, and I'll tell you about me."

She listens as he slowly opens up to her, telling her about growing up on the Boeshane Peninsula on one of Earth's many colony worlds; the grassy sand dunes and beaches, and how the inhabitants lived in a large building cluster at the edge. She listens as he tells her how he was nicknamed the "", as part of the publicity campaign surrounding a recruitment drive, acclaimed as the first Time Agent from the Peninsula and for his good looks. She listens as his voice fills with emotion as he tells her how their peaceful lives were shattered forever when creatures described only as the "most horrible creatures imaginable" descended upon the Peninsula and killed many of its inhabitants - including Jack's mother, father and little brother - and leaving Jack the only survivor of the massacre.

Violet's heart shatters and she pulls the older man into a hug, shushing him as she runs her fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm him. Words flow past her lips, telling him her story as she does so, her eyes closed so she doesn't have to see the look on his face when he pulls back. She tells him off the earliest she can remember - of running along a beach with her cousin - and then of the horrors that followed when her younger brothers came along; her mother's new partner's children - the partner that knew no bounds or restraints, or had even a caring bone in his body. She tells him of the darkest moments in her childhood - from the first time to the most recent - and the other reasons why she's tried to take her own life several times before.

While she  _is_  scared of his reaction, she also feels as though a weight has been lifted off her chest. Her fear comes to be nothing more than an illusion as Jack hugs her tightly and promises that he'll never let anything of the sort happen to her ever again. With everything off her chest, she finds herself able to sleep soundly that night beside someone she knows that she can trust with absolutely anything. It's an odd feeling, being able to trust someone, but she finds it to be comforting and relieving. Sleeping in the same bed with someone is odd for Violet, never having done such a thing before, but, with Jack, she knows that she's more than safe.

There's few walls between the pair, but there's still an air of unease with not having known each other for very long - two days at most - but that's easy enough overcome by the amount of time they spend together over the next few weeks. Getting to know the other's likes and dislikes is amusing, and so is learning just what to say or do to tick the other off. It's like a game between the Humans; a game that seems to have no expiry date or limit, and Violet's not sure she really cares about such a thing with how much fun she's having with Jack on alien worlds and in different times. Slowly but surely, she notices her feelings morph from seeing the man as an older brother to something more... intimate, and she's fucking terrified of that revelation - and has very little desire to share that bit of information with him.


	7. 𝟘𝟘𝟛 ▹ 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟

**TRIGGER WARNING**

**DAYS TURN INTO WEEKS** and then into months, and it’s soon been almost a year since Violet’s run away with Jack. She’s grown more comfortable in her own skin in that time, and become quite adept with using a range of weapons that have gotten herself and Jack out of many a sticky situation, but there’s a threatening itch building evermore beneath the thin layer of scarred flesh and it’s about ready to burst free despite her best attempts to quell and bury the explosive and malicious tendency. She’s hiding it from Jack much like everything she’s yet to tell him - which, in fact, includes the darkest night of her sixteen years of life.

It’s the one thing she couldn’t bring herself to tell him, no matter how much she trusted him after only having known him for a day at most. Even now, after a year of traveling with the 51st Century man, she knows that she’s nowhere near prepared to tell the man she’s come to love about the one thing she’s told no one before - even when she got somewhat “caught” in the aftermath. True, it’s not as though it really haunts her, but she’s certainly still not  _ proud _ of that moment, and, sure, actions were more than justified given what’d happened only moments beforehand, it’s not her brightest moment.

Currently hunched over the sink in their current motel on a planet she can’t quite remember the name of (she’s thinks it starts with ‘r’ or something), sweat is lathered on her pale skin and her blue eyes are wild with an overbearing need. Her flesh is too tight and feels as though there are multimillion parasites crawling beneath it, creating an itching sensation that’s bordering on something akin to burning; every inch of her body pleading for the release it’s been denied for several months. Glaring into the strange mirror, she can’t help but see how powerless she truly is despite the past year she’s spent building herself up from the charred rubble that remained from the time she’d once been a fortified castle; a saner person - no, a  _ child _ .

She claws at her skin, not relenting even when her brilliant essence begins to bubble free of its former confines and begins to replace the sweat on her arms. Letting out a wounded and animalistic sound, she falls to her knees and stares down at her arms blankly, the undersides of her nails filled with skin and drying blood. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the seemingly harmless pen she’s never without and pulls off the end, revealing the sharp, silver blade hidden beneath. Don’t get the wrong idea, she doesn’t carry it for such a purpose she is about to use it for, but more for self-defense and dire situations that call for it. Turning the pen knife, her dull blue eyes watch the bathroom light glint off its edges, her skin shuddering in anticipation of finally being allowed its body’s desired release.

Her hands unusually steady, she presses the blade against her inner left arm and drags, eyes closing at the sensation that follows - as though she’s lost part of a great weight bearing down on her. In a haze, she repeats the motion, each time digging deeper into her flesh until she swears the blade scrapes against her arm bone, but knowing that she’s not quite there yet. No matter how many times she draws the blade across her skin and is blessed by the brief sting of pain and flow of blood, it’s not enough; her body urging her for something more, and something harder to heal. Despite the still clear part of her mind slamming its fists against the barbed wire cage it’s been locked in pleading for her to think of Jack, Violet finds herself quite content to listen to her body’s desires.

Adjusting her aim, the sharp point of her pen knife buries itself into her wrist and, almost in the way of her body possessed, Violet applies pressure and slices through her scarred and cut skin as though it’s paper without a second of hesitation or thought. Her vision flickers with black spots and the bloodied blade clatters to the floor of the alien motel’s bathroom, blood freely flowing from her divided flesh and beginning to create a sickening red pool beneath where it lies limp atop her left leg. It’s been years since she’s been this close to not being able to come back from this, and the rush it brings is like anesthetic; welcoming her into a half-aware state of borderline euphoria.

Distantly, she hears someone calling her name, curious and questioning at first, but then it turns into complete panic and terror, making her head spin and her dull eyes slide closed as though weighted. She feels hands on her, trembling - with either fear or rage, she cannot tell, but trembling nonetheless - as they attempt to stop the essence of her life fleeing her body as though slaves freed from lives of servitude. Their touch and voice are familiar, beckoning her back to a world where she can never be free of everything; a world where there’s one person who cares for her more than anything, and a world full of countless possibilities with just that one person to guide her.

“Violet, stay with me!” Their voice comes into focus. “Come on. Don’t you die on me, Violet!”

Her tongue is like lead in her mouth, unable to form the one word that will calm them.

“Fuck, come on! Work with me here! Violet!”

Violet gives him a weak groan, the weakness following as she attempts to pull her arm free of the person’s hold.

“Vi? Can you hear me?”

Swallowing, she forces the word out. “Javic…”

Jack sighs in relief. “Hey, little love. You’re going to live, alright? You’re not dying on me.”

“Mmmm. Not this time, lover… Too late…” 

Violet’s eyes find Jack’s and, even though she can’t exactly see properly, she manages to lift her bloodied right hand and rest it against his face, a faint smile on her face. She loves this man with her whole being despite the centuries between them - with her having been born 3094 years before him - and with him being at least a decade older than her in Human years, and she’ll be reluctantly taking that secret to her grave if she doesn’t speak soon.

Lips quirking into a weak smile, she whispers those three undeniably cursed words to the one who deserves them more than anything, watching, with one moment of hyperfocus, as those beautiful baby blue eyes widen in disbelief and horror, filling with crystalline tears. At the same time, her dull blue eyes become lifeless before his, a sad look still gracing them, but happy to have at least found something she would have been happy to live for if her life had been just that little bit different.

Jack becomes frantic as her body turns limp and lifeless, covered in drying blood with a gentle smile still curving her deathly pale features. They’re frozen in a way that’s haunting the 51st Century man as he tries everything he knows to bring the 21st Century girl back to life, but to no apparent avail. Crying out, he hugs her chilling body against his, her head lolling against his chest as he rocks to and fro, his unshed tears now making their burning way from his eyes and down onto her dead weighted body. He doesn’t know for how long he sits there holding Violet’s lifeless body, but he knows that his tears are long gone by the time he registers just how cramped and uncomfortable he’s become covered in blood on the floor of an alien motel’s bathroom.

“You’re meant to live, Violet,” Jack murmurs. “You have your whole life ahead of you, so why’d you go and do something as stupid as this, hey?”


	8. 𝟘𝟘𝟜 ▹𝕎𝕒𝕤𝕟'𝕥 𝔼𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥

**IT’S NOT UNTIL HOURS** later that some colour begins to seep back into her pale flesh, the wound on her inner left arm healing to nothing more than a permanent scar. There’s a soft golden glow around her body that goes unseen by her companion as he mercilessly scrubs her blood from the bathroom floor, trying not to think of the dead girl on her -  _ their _ \- bed. Slowly her body heals, but heals nonetheless, and there’s no one there to witness such an unprecedented miracle - even when her eyes fly open and she sucks a sharp breath into her lungs, her body arching off the bed slightly.

There’s one difference to her now: her eyes. They’re a pure sapphire blue that puts the most beautiful sapphire either in the room have seen in the whole of their lives. It’s the one sign that she’s come back from wherever it was dying sent her.

Sitting upright, Violet stares down at her healed flesh with disbelief before hesitantly moving her gaze to where she hears Jack scrubbing the bathroom. “Javic…”

Jack stills at his name, shoulders rigid as he contemplates whether or not he’s hearing things. When it sounds again, he looks over at Violet with bloodshot eyes. “Violet…?”

“What happened? I’m… I died… Why am I alive?”

“Violet?”

“It’s me. I think. I just…”

“Violet!”

In the blink of an eye, Jack’s arms are around the young girl, almost crushing her to his chest as he curses into her knotted dirty blonde hair. Violet is quick to reciprocate the action, crying into the older man’s chest with shock and disbelief, her mind still comprehending the fact that she died and has come back to life. Wrapped in the arms of the one she loves with her whole being, she finds all her worries slip away into the void; suffocating with the lack of substance. It’s as though this man, although he is only human, can bring her back to the cusp of being able to rebuild the fortress that was once her mind before it was reduced to charred and smoldering rubble.

She feels undeniably safe in his arms, and she doesn’t want to be anywhere else. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere. I promise. Except maybe to get something to eat. I’m fucking starving, Javic.” The name sounds wrong after everything he’s seen. “No. Jack. I’ll call you that now.”

He laughs through his tears, ruffling her hair slightly. “Having you die in my arms was the turning point, was it? Should’ve let you die sooner if that’s the case.”

“Yeah, maybe. Although…” Violet slips out of Jack’s arms and stands away from the bed, looking down at her bloodied clothes with distaste. “I think I better clean this shit off before people start worrying. They might think I  _ died _ or something.”

“That’s a concern.” Jack can’t hide the wince at her words, baby blue eyes pained at the sight of her blood still covering her. “Go have a shower and I’ll get you some clothes.”

The teenage girl grins and heads into the perfectly cleaned bathroom, shutting the door and wondering just how long she was dead for this time. Sure, she’s ended up dying once before, but she woke up in a hospital that time and she was sure it’d been them to bring her back - until now that is. Stripping off her ruined clothes, she steps into the automated shower and stands under the perfect-temperature water, her chest feeling hollow as she allows herself to be drenched to the bone. Eventually, she begins to scrub at her body, but it’s almost a repeated and mindless motion, her head feeling light as she goes through the motions.

Almost half an hour later, she shuts the water off and simply stands in the recess, feeling water roll down her body. It’s only moments later that Jack knocks at the door and walks in, expecting her to be wearing a towel at least, but he quickly comes to a stop, eyes wide, when he realises that she’s staring at the wall with dead eyes. Sighing, he places the pile of clothes on the cupboard and picks up her towel, hesitantly walking over to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. Jolting, she stares up at him with startled sapphire eyes, fear brewing in their depths despite him not looking anywhere but her face. Trembling, she takes the towel from him and wraps it around her body, trying not to recoil as he turns and walks away.

He pauses in the doorway and what he says makes her blood run cold. “You’re hiding more than you told me when we met.”

“Jack…?”

“I know because of what you told me when you… died.”

She swallows harshly. “Jack, look…”

“I consider myself a considerate person when it comes to you, but that stops right now. You’re telling me whatever it is that you’re keeping from me.”

“I know. It’s time I tell you the one thing I’ve never told anyone, or, well, I could always “show” you like I told you I can do. Although, that may well make it much worse.”

Jack says nothing, and that makes Violet worry just that little bit more about whether or not he’ll be able to stand the sight of her after he knows. She knows that taking her time will only make her feel more anxious about telling him, but she can’t help the way her limbs feel like lead poles attached to her torso, inhibiting her usually fluid movement. Hanging the towel up, she tugs on the clothes he brought in for her - thankful that it’s a pair of full-length tights and a baggy t-shirt - and lets out a shuddering breath, hand resting on this planet’s version of a door handle.

Opening the door, Violet walks over to their shared bed and sits down with her back to Jack, not sure if she’s going to be able face him while the beastly words leave her lips. They’re hesitant at first, fearing the light that the man in the room has brought into the life of their owner, but the words begin to build their pace, giving life to a murderous void in the place of where a heart once sat, surrounded by scar tissue. The voice that the words are told with is flat, empty, and tells not of the pain hidden beneath it. The words drive the man in the room to an impasse, both sympathetic and terrified of this girl they tell him of; wanting to hold her at the same time he flees in fear of his own life. And yet, he finds himself concreted to the bed, long fingers clenched into the strange blankets.

Head down, Violet remains silent for a moment as the final words of her truth fade into the night, waiting for some sign from the man behind her. “So, now you know. What will you do now I’ve told you the one thing that will warp the way you see me for the rest of time, Javic Piotr Thane?”

Jack sighs and stares up at the coloured ceiling. “You’re one terrifying little human girl, aren’t you? I can’t blame you for what you did, but I’m…”

“Scared of me. You’re not the first person to be. They were, but they had a reason to be whereas you don’t. If anything, you’re safer with me than without me.” She leans back against him, head on his shoulder. “Let me tell you something else: you are the one person in all of time and space that I care for in the way that I do, and that means I will give my life to keep you alive - whether you want me to or not.”

“If you die, and I mean die for real, I don’t know what I’d do. Unlike everyone else I’ve met since joining the Time Agency, you’ve left one hell of a mark on me, Violet Jones.”


End file.
